When Katie first moved back to Portland from Boston she worked for Dishcrawl and though she ultimately had to give up the reins and the San Jose-based business took a break from operating in Portland, it's back and we're attending the Nob Hill Dishcrawl on May 21st!
One of the fun and unique things about this neighborhood food adventure is that the destinations are kept secret until 48 hours prior to the event, but luckily we got an insider tip on one of the stops!
Nob Hill Dishcrawlers will be sampling food from...
23Hoyt!
Katie and I wrote a review of 23Hoyt back in 2009 (when we were still in college) so we decided to stop by and see how things were going.
Just for fun, let's compare our experience last week with our post from 2009:
College Happy Hour Honeys: "Tonight, after Katie choreographed a terrific dance and I spent the day
painting my grandparents house, we headed down to NW 23rd and Hoyt for
happy hour at 23Hoyt."
Now: Katie and I were headed over to Imperial's viewing party for Knife Fight, a cooking show on the Esquire Network. We stopped by 23Hoyt for a pre-event drink.
The Takeaway: We are much fancier now and get invited to industry things...sometimes.
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College HHHs: "Tall ceilings, candlelight tables, trees in the room, bench seats,
upstairs tables. Initially we felt under-dressed, me in my zip-up and
Katie in her sneakers, but as the night went on, some people were more
dressed up and others more casual so we decided our outfits were
acceptable."
Now: Add big wax-dripping candles to that list and the description still stands. Also I wore a sweater and Katie wore her heeled booties.
The Takeaway: We are much fancier now in the clothing department too.
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College HHHs: "We both ordered Pomegranate Cosmos, the only vodka drink."
Now: Katie and I both kept it simple with Tom Collins.
The Takeaway: Oh, college Kelly and Katie. You did love your vodka. You'd actually probably really love 23Hoyt's current cocktail menu because it features 3 vodka drinks including the Flashback ($8), made with house-made kiwi vodka, cointreau, lime and cranberry. Such an appropriate name!
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College HHHs: "Their happy hour menu had $1 to $5 food specials and some $5 drink specials... We were excited to learn that the burgers included
fries because usually the fries are separate on the happy hour menu.
Good deal!"
Now: Happy hour cocktails are now $6 (inflation, man) but there are still food specials ranging from $1-$7. And great news, the cheeseburger still comes with fries!
The Takeaway: 23Hoyt continues to offer very well-priced happy hour food and drinks. Love that!
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College HHHs: "The food, the drinks, and the atmosphere were all great. But perhaps the
best part of happy hour at 23Hoyt was the woman who sat next to us.
White hair, British accent, pearls, sassy as all get out...our kind of
lady. This was especially confirmed when upon receiving a small number
of bread with her goat cheese (as did we) she exclaimed 'well, we'll
certainly be needing more toasties.' Exactly. She also mentioned to her
somewhat plump dining partner 'well, of course you're getting the
hamburger.' Mean. But again, correct."
Now: No British people to be found. Sad day.
The Takeaway: We rarely comment on fellow restaurant-goers in posts anymore. We should totally bring that back, right? Yeah... probably not.
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Anyway, the point is that five years later, 23Hoyt is still a great spot for happy hour and that makes us even more excited to see what they have planned for Dishcrawl since we've never eaten any of their non-happy hour food.
If you want to join us on May 21st, you can purchase tickets here. Cheers!